Blue Manakin

Also known as Swallow-tailed Manakin, the Blue Manakin inhabits humid forest and secondary woodland where it is noted for its unmistakeable plumage and song and for its habit of lekking males trying to attract a female.

It is about 13cm in size and exhibits strong sexual dimorphism. The males are generally sky-blue with a black head and chin and bright red crown. The wings and tail are black with elongated central retrices. Young males are olive-green like the females but differ in having the red crown which appears before the remaining plumage moves to that of an adult male. It reaches full adult plumage after two years.

Females are olive-green but also have the elongated retrices on what is a slightly longer tail. They are also quieter than the males.

tangará macho

tangará fêmea

The Blue Manakin is omnivorous feeding on small fruits and small arthropods.

tangará se alimentando

Females have their own territory around the nest which is made of dry plant fibres, moss and leaves and is suspended from a fork high up in a tree. Two eggs which are greyish with dark spots are laid. Incubation is carried out by the females and lasts 18 days. 20 days after hatching the fledglings leave the nest and start to feed and look after themselves. Males, normally between 2 to 6 of them, congregate on slender, horizontal branches to display in traditional areas or leks. There is a hierarchy amongst the males that can persist for years. The males perform an intriguing display consisting of a frenzy of cartwheeling by the participating males and often ending with the dominant male in a slow flight display leading to copulation with the single female that the whole display has attracted.

Casal de tangará

Ninho de tangará

Ovo de tangará

Entre os seus principais hábitos, está a típica dança pré-nupcial, onde os machos se revelam verdadeiros acrobatas, enfileirando-se vários deles num galho e exibindo-se ante a fêmea, um de cada vez. Depois de executarem o rito, cada um volta ao fim da fila e espera a vez de exibir-se novamente.

Habita as matas densas do sul da Bahia, do sudeste e sul do Brasil, do Paraguai e nordeste da Argentina (Província de Missiones).

  Ocorrências registradas no WikiAves

• WikiPedia
• Roman, C., Della-Flora, F., Broudt, M. S., Caceres, N.C, DIFERENÇA DE COMPORTAMENTO DE CHIROXIPHIA CAUDATA (AVES, PIPRIDAE) EM DIFERENTES ESTRATOS FLORESTAIS NO SUL DO BRASIL, 28 de Set de 2007. Disponível em: http://www.seb-ecologia.org.br/viiiceb/pdf/1943.pdf. Acessado em 03 fev 2009.